There are many applications that require the ability to identify the specific media and/or its source that is being broadcast or is playing at a consumer's immediate point-of-presence (POP), such as a home or office, car, store, stadium, theater and so on. Examples of such applications include direct-response advertisements, promotions, fundraising campaigns, interactive entertainment, information and public services. The attractiveness of these applications to consumers and businesses is directly related to the ease and speed with which the media and/or its source can be identified and the consumer is connected to an appropriate entity (advertiser, broadcaster, media company etc.).
Because of its ubiquity, familiarity and ease of use the phone is a natural vehicle for enabling such activities. By “listening” through the consumer's phone it is possible to identify the media playing at the POP and take appropriate action. Existing telephonic techniques for identifying media at the POP have required either direct user input, decoding embedded ‘marks’ in the media or matching the media's acoustic signature with previously stored signatures. In practice these techniques have proven to be too complex or too slow to gain acceptance. The problem is largely due the adverse impact of the phone and phone network on the quality of the signal retransmitted from the POP to the appropriate processing authority.